Craft group Belsize Creates has been making decorations for the post box in England’s Lane, in Belsize Park, since Russia invaded the Ukraine three years ago.
As Easter approaches, their topper – with the words ‘Bee The Change You Want To See’, will have knitted eggs and bunnies from previous years added.
Group member, singer-songwriter and “crafter” Caroline Chan said: “It’s been bees for a while. We’ve got some bunnies to add to it and some easter eggs to go with it.
“I try to recycle things as well. Because we’re a bit short of time at the moment so it won’t be a big Easter extravaganza but we’ll go into a summer one after that – lots of flowers, summery things.
1,2,3,4,5 keep the world’s fish alive – Belsize Creates makes a knitted point about the ocean (Image: Caroline Chan)
“There’s usually two or three of us with different ideas, it takes a lot of effort and a lot of time.”
The idea for the first topper came when Ukraine was invaded in February 2022.
Caroline said: “Everybody was shocked by it all and the sunflowers became a big symbol of showing solidarity.
“I put it to some friends that it would be a good idea to just cover a postbox with sunflowers. We made a lot of flowers and a hatch for it and wrote around it Peace for the World or Peace for Ukraine and we were very pleased with it.
“But then it was stolen six days later and that was pretty devastating. Everybody thought there was no point as it would just get stolen but I thought ‘we have to keep doing it until they get fed up destroying it’.
“We replaced it and hoped for the best and bit by bit things got stolen but nothing like the whole lot like they did before.”
Caroline says she is heavily involved in the environment and the toppers reflect those passions. She made one topper featuring Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough, followed by one saying ‘I’m Dreaming of a Green Christmas’.
She added: “These things continue as there’s an expectation now, people are asking ‘when’s the next one?’ and people take photos.
“It’s quite difficult maintaining it but as long as it speaks to people we’ll carry on.”
